


A Horrible Example for First Dates

by Ashleopard



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-10
Updated: 2016-12-10
Packaged: 2018-09-07 15:25:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8806141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ashleopard/pseuds/Ashleopard
Summary: Korra - a professional snowboarder - as offered to endorse Asami's failing company for free, asking only in return that Asami go snowboarding with her. After a small incident involving a bad idea and a sprained ankle, the two have a bit of time to talk. Modern AU. One-shot.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Hinatauryusen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hinatauryusen/gifts).



> I literally wrote this all in one go. It is almost 4:00 AM. Enjoy!

Asami was fuming - an agonizing mixture of freezing cold and searing heat leaving her indecisive as to whether she needed a blanket or not. Seeing as she couldn’t stop shivering, she decided to keep it on, which only caused her to sweat. _This couldn’t possibly get any worse._

She wanted to go home. To her workshop, her tools, her nice warm bed with her cat, but instead she was in a freezing cabin. It wasn’t the situation she was quite angry at as much as herself: she was more than happy to spend the weekend here with her friend Korra, as payment, she might add. Because for an endorsement, professional snowboarder Korra - _The_ Avatar herself, in the flesh and blood, Korra - hadn’t wanted money (which Asami, the CEO of a now dying company, was grateful for). She’d wanted Asami to come out here, to the middle of nowhere, and learn how to snowboard. Enjoy some hot cocoa. Hell, watch a stupid movie. A friend’s slumber party, right? Just a weekend away from a job so stressful that Asami had barely slept in the past few months since her fa… predecessor, Hiroshi, was arrested.

But of course Asami had gotten smug when she’d turned out to be a natural snowboarder, which had led to her being cocky, which had been followed by her challenging Korra to a race, which had, in the end, led to a series of events that left Asami where she was now: sitting on the couch in Korra’s vacation cabin, harboring a sprained ankle.

“Alright,” Korra said, coming in from the kitchen, carrying two steaming mugs. “We got the drinks! How’re you doing? That ice pack still holding up?”

Asami nodded. The ice felt good, though she didn’t appreciate how absolutely freezing her foot was (hence why she was cold). The head was her cheeks burning after spending a few hours outside, not to mention her damaged pride after taking the injury. She wished the temperature would even out somehow, though that didn’t seem like it would be happening anytime soon. “Yeah, the ice pack’s fine. But do you have a warmer blanket, by chance?” Because no matter how damaged her pride was, it wasn’t going to stop her teeth from chattering.

Korra brightened immediately to the next task. “Sure thing!” She took off, bounding into the master bedroom. When she emerged, it was with the biggest, fluffiest blanket Asami had ever had the privilege to be in the presence of. She threw it on top of Asami, then proceeded to spread it out. “How’s that for size?”

Despite the circumstances, Asami found herself fighting a smile. “It’s glorious. Where do you even get a thing like this, anyway?”

“Target, for like a million dollars,” Korra joked, crossing her arms as she watched Asami, seeming rather pleased with herself. “I bought the cabin from my parents and, while my dad was raised in colder weather, my mom was more in your shoes. So we had to splurge a little and think outside the box.” She chuckled. “Although, back in those days, splurging was a kinda a big deal. This was about the fanciest thing we owned, so whenever we came here we would all sleep in the bed with just this blanket. Soundest sleep I ever got.”

_The money came with Korra’s snowboarding._ How could Asami have forgotten? For all the time she’d been Korra’s friend - in the full year since Hiroshi had started doing work with her - how had she not thought of that? Of course, that did seem to explain a lot. “How did your parents afford this place to begin with?” The words only sounded offensive to Asami after they were spoken. “Oh, sorry.”

“No, don’t be. I get what you’re saying.” Korra sat on the edge of the couch, stirring her hot chocolate with a spoon. Asami watched the marshmallows melt under the gentle strokes. “They inherited it from my uncle, and maintained it by renting it out to various customers. We did most of our vacationing here when I was very little; no teen wants to stay in a cabin alone with their parents. But it let us get a bit extra, so we decorated.” She pointed to the paintings hung on the walls, the nice rug on the floor. “Neat, right?”

Asami was oddly fascinated, and grateful, as she realized she’d been temporarily distracted from the pain in her ankle. She offered Korra a reassuring smile to let her know she was listening, her tired gaze catching on bright blue eyes, sparkling as memories flashed in front of them. _If they aren’t the most beautiful eyes I’ve ever seen…_

And there it was. Asami knew this was going to present itself as an issue - it already had. She hadn’t exactly walked back to the cabin after her incident; the simple fact that she’d been in pain had failed to completely distract her from Korra's strong arms as they carried her back - of the warmth beneath Korra’s gear and the softness of her voice in the face of such a sudden situation. Against all of Asami’s pleading and bargaining with herself, she couldn’t seem to get over the stupid crush she had on the girl. The girl who was her business partner. And friend… who was probably straight. Right? Hopefully not?

Korra took a sip of her drink. Trying to distract herself, Asami leaned to the table and grabbed her own mug, grateful to realize Korra had given her coffee - by far her favorite drink. She took a sip, surprised. _Coffee and hot cocoa._

“I can’t let you go on a trip like this without at least a little bit of it,” Korra said, slurping another small mouthful. “But yes, it’s mostly coffee. If you don’t like it, the pot isn’t empty.”

“No,” Asami said immediately. “I like it. It’s… different. I drink too much plain coffee. It’s a nice treat.” She took a rather big swig, regretting the decision as the scalding liquid burned her tongue. She tried not to let it show.

For a few minutes, Korra seemed to be lost in thought. Asami deemed it appropriate timing, as she took an ample chance to get a good look at the cabin she was staying in. There were the paintings and rugs Korra had pointed out, then more. The stereotypical antlers hanging from the wall, what appeared to be a hand-crafted rocking horse, and the rocking chair in front of the fireplace all told the story of countless residents having rented this cabin, but several aspects screamed Korra. For example, the nice new television and DVD player, the corner stocked full of snowboarding gear, and several picture frames displaying various pictures of Korra with people Asami could only assume were her family, all except…

“Who’s that?”

“Who?” Korra followed Asami’s gaze to the picture frame on the mantle, where Korra was standing with a stiff-spined woman. Asami would have assumed it some sort of business relationship by her posture, had the strange, intimidating woman not had her arm around Korra’s waist, leaving a blushing Korra for the picture. “Oh.” Korra’s reflective mood seemed to shatter - Asami felt the sudden tension crackle through the room like electricity. “That’s just me with a… a person I used to be friendly with. Friend. We were good friends when we came to this cabin. I guess I forgot to take that one down.”

Everything about the way Korra was acting - from her obvious discomfort to the edge in her voice - told Asami that it was a bit more than that. Despite Korra being upset, she felt a bit hopeful. “Well, if you were just friends, maybe it’s better to leave it there. Remember all your friendly times. Friends forever, right?” Korra glanced at her, confused. Asami raised her brow, wondering if she could get the full story without even necessarily asking.

The answer was yes.

“I guess you could say it was a bit more than that. We were - uh - we were… girlfriends. But we didn’t really tell many people. It’s a lot of publicity that neither of us wanted, and I definitely don’t want it now.” Korra got to her feet to rearrange the picture, leaving it facing the wood. “Out of sight out of mind, right?”

Asami shrugged. “I’ve personally been more of a fan of ‘Diss on the ex with your friend’. The way you’re acting, I wouldn’t be surprised if you had a few bad things to say about her. Was she a snowboarder too?”

Korra shook her head. “No. Her name was… well, she’s not dead, so her name _is_ Kuvira. We met in college - she was more of a soccer player. I was on the soccer team to keep myself sharp. Last I heard she was coaching for some big team. She likes playing, but is a great strategist.”

Korra seemed to pale at the words, so Asami interrupted. “When did you guys date?”

“Two years. It ended…. Yeah, seven months ago.” She continued before Asami could even ask. “She broke it off. I don’t know, I should’ve seen it coming. She’s always been more of a free spirit. ‘Nothing to hold me back’ sort of deal. Didn’t want to be tied down. Bullshit if you ask me. Not the reasons themselves. Just the fact that she pulled me along behind her like some sort of lost puppy for two years before I realized it.” Korra laughed, the sound echoing harshly off the wooden walls. “And it’s not like I’m still on her leash. It’s just… everytime I think of her, I remember how much of an _idiot_ I was. I would’ve bent over backwards till I did a handstand for her, but I don’t even think she was leaning.”

“That’s a dick move on her part. Was she super strict?”

Korra nodded, her face obscured by shadows as she was seated, leaning on her knees, only a few feet from the fire. “Yeah. I don’t know, it was just… like I said. A lot has changed. I’m a different person now. It’s for the better, though. I’m never going to give that much to a person who had nothing to return. Not again.”

The room seemed to be dropping in temperature - or maybe it was all in Asami’s head. Regardless, she shivered. “I had a boyfriend,” she said. “He was interesting. Workaholic, very sweet guy if you could get past his _many_ layers of defense. Good kisser,” - she was pleased when she heard Korra laugh - “but he was kind of… he’s really more of a lone wolf. Or at least he was when we dated. It just wasn’t right. Of course, we didn’t last half as long as you and Kuvira. I’m glad, though. Near the end I felt like I was having a relationship with his voicemail.”

Korra seemed to have cheered up a bit. “ That must’ve sucked! At least I had a glimpse of what a good relationship could be!”

Asami shoved her arm teasingly, definitely _not_ noticing Korra’s expertly toned biceps. “Hey! I said he was a good kisser!”

“And Kuvira could do a lot more with her tongue than bark orders! But that doesn’t go to say she preferred it, or that she wasn’t a pain in the ass about any sort of affection. Seriously, there were rules for cuddling!”

“Pfft! As if!” Korra’s eyes lit up in light of a challenge, and Asami decided to take it. “What were these so-called _rules_?”

“Well, first of all,” Korra set her drink on the table, pulling up the blanket and sneaking in close to Asami, “no cuddling under covers unless it’s winter.”

“I stand by that,” Asami teased, her heart speeding up as she pretended to try and push Korra away from her. In reality, she was cold and Korra was hot, by both definitions of the word. The heat from Korra seemed to seep into her skin, finally allowing her to feel warm for the first time in hours, but she wasn’t about to admit that. “You’re a freaking heating pad. I may enjoy sitting in front of a fire, but I’m not about to do it in the middle of summer!”

Korra rolled her eyes. “What can I say? You can’t douse anything this hot.” _I agree._ “Then she had this weird rule about always wearing socks, because feet grossed her out or something.”

“That’s not unreasonable, Korra.”

“Not you too! Honestly, what’s the difference? Sock or no sock, it’s still a foot!”

“Well, what if it’s winter? And your feet are cold but the rest of your body is warm and then your partner does this.” With her good foot, she gently kicked Korra’s shin. Repeatedly, until it got the point across and Korra pushed her back, smiling.

“Okay, but it’s still a foot.”

“It’s not a feet thing, Korra. It’s temperature. Plus what if your feet are sweaty? Then that’s just disgusting.”

“Fine, you can have that one too. Jeez. Uh… okay. This one I’ve got. No cuddling while watching movies.”

Asami’s jaw dropped. “No!”

“Oh yeah! Unless we agreed beforehand that it was going to be a Netflix and Chill sort of scenario, we couldn’t, like, cuddle and watch scary movies on Halloween. It sucked! Because she always said I would start creeping up on her and trying to distract her-”

“I can believe that.”

“Well, I wasn’t trying!”

Asami assumed Korra wasn’t - but damn, one wrong move and Asami could understand how Korra could be irresistible, even to the most strong-willed of folk. Something about her - nothing she’d ever personally seen, but more of an educated guess. They were laying on the couch, Korra behind her, watching a movie. Korra stretches, her breath on her neck. There’s a momentary chill as she exhales, and her nose nuzzles the spot. Her lips follow, and when Asami turns around to confront her, she has that look in her eyes that’s just daring you to follow up….

“Asami?”

Asami had spaced out. She glanced at Korra, who was still sitting relatively close, but not too much as to be considered invasive. Asami hated it, if only a little.

“I guess I can agree that that would be an extreme.”

Korra smirked. “Okay. Um, she had a thing about timing. Yes for cuddling after sex. No for cuddling in the morning. Yes for cuddling after a date, but that usually extended to other stuff.”

“She was crazy.” _I would cuddle you forever if I could, you and your damn puppy eyes._

“That’s what I’m telling you!” Korra boasted. “And cuddling always had to go a certain way.”

Asami felt a rush of adrenaline go through her system as she hoped beyond hope that what she was about to say would get the desired outcome. “How was that, exactly?”

“Well, first of all,” Korra scooted in so she was shoulder to shoulder with Asami, “she’d get all close like this, right? And then do the old as-seen-on-TV thing,” - Korra wrapped her arm around Asami, pulling her into an embrace - “very cliche, right?”

Asami swallowed hard, hoping the firelight was dim enough to hide her blush. “Totally cliche. Who would this work on, anyway?” _Besides me, apparently._

“Yeah,” Korra laughed. The sound didn’t quite fill the room. “That’s the point. No one. But, y’know, after she’d work you all nice and cozy, she’d start doing her moves.”

“Her moves?”

“Mhm. And I always fell for them because it was slightly different each time, all revolving around the same technique. See, she leans in real close and comfy.” Korra’s voice was soft and low, her breath billowing against Asami’s eardrum. “And then she’d say something super suave, like, ‘I’m a relatively smart person, but I’ve been having a rough time trying to figure out _everything_ I want to do to you tonight.’” Korra exhaled slightly, leaving Asami to wonder if Kuvira was still the one talking.

“A-and after that?”

Korra backed away slightly. Asami could only tell because her voice was further away when she spoke. “Then she’d… well, move on to a much more intimate sort of cuddling that I don’t think you’d be comfortable with.” _I wouldn’t put money on that._

Asami allowed herself a small giggle, glancing at Korra out of the corner of her eye in a last-ditch attempt to restore whatever remained of her self-control. “I think the only one getting uncomfortable here is you.” Korra’s eyes flashed - hope? Asami wondered. So, when she continued, she feigned innocence. “What? You’re warm! Republic City isn’t quite as chilly as Harbor City.”

Korra rolled her eyes but pulled in closer to Asami. “I will never understand how you city-goers survive. A soft breeze blows you over!”

“Well,” Asami cleared her throat, “that’s the mystery. Anyway, you - uh - you’ve said it’s been several months since the breakup? Have you ever maybe considered dating again? Caught a crush? All that fun stuff?”

Korra suddenly seemed very interested in the fireplace. “Well, the usual. You see a person. You listen to them. Get to know them. Listen to them ramble about… stuff for hours. Realize how much you want to kiss them. The usual.”

“And what stops you? From going up to that person right now and telling them all that?”

Korra gulped. “The same thing that stops anyone. Fear of losing what we already have in order to pursue something that might not exist.”

The arm around her neck was stiff - as if Korra had forgotten it was there. To her, only one reason made sense that Korra could be this uncomfortable. She really hoped she was right.

“Well, Korra, I have a crush on someone too.”

Did Korra seem to falter? “Oh, really?”

“Yes.”

A dragged out response. “Who’s the lucky guy?”

“Very muscular, for starters.” Asami spoke lightheartedly, tracing a path with her eyes as she found features highlight. “Like, amazingly so. Smooth, dark skin. For hair it’s shorter than one might expect, but it works. And it’s soft - Spirits, is it soft. I’d just love to run my hands through it.” Out the corner of her eye, she saw Korra watching her. This pleased her. “Soft chin. And eyes - her eyes are unlike anything I’ve ever seen.”

“...is that so?”

“Yes. God, what’s the color?” she met Korra’s gaze, furrowing her brow as if to get a better look. “Blue. They’re blue. But that doesn’t do them justice, of course. They swim and spark with her - you can almost read her mind if you watch close enough. And you know what to look for.”

As she spoke, Korra’s eyes shifted. They glanced down, then met again, flashing that electric blue that sang miracles. “Is that it?” Her voice was so faint that, had there been another person in the room, they would have missed it. “Is that all you’ve got to say?”

“Well, I guess I could go on, if I must.”

“It would be appreciated.”

Asami pulled away from Korra, giving herself ample space to study. “Well, if that’s the case, I simply cannot skip her lips. Spirits, Korra, she has the most beautiful lips. It’s a curse, really. Like when she chews on her damn pens all the time. I beg her to stop - I claim that I would rather have clean pens, that I don’t want the pens to explode, but really I just can’t concentrate on contracts when all I can imagine is her mouth, and how her lips just so perfectly curve and pout and smile. It’s-”

But Asami couldn’t speak. Because, as it turned out, Korra’s lips were perfect in even more ways - such as kissing Asami.

She’d dated Mako long enough to understand that there are several different kisses. There’s the ‘How was work today? I was thinking about you.’ The ‘I want to stay here, kissing you forever’. However, of all the hundreds of kisses, she’d experienced, this was one of her favorite brands.

It was tentative, but powerful. Not particularly rough, but maintaining a strong presence, with the sort of urgency and devotion that could make a person see fireworks. It left her lips and sparked in her chest, zapping her heart and electrifying her blood. It traveled all the way down her spine, to her very center and took root like an aged tree. The kind of kiss that made you wish you could live in it.

But, it’s the kind of kiss that always ends too soon. That you can’t always get back - a sad truth that Asami remembered as Korra pulled back, her eyes skimming over Asami’s face as to see her reaction. “What’s wrong?” she asked, her voice edged with worry. So, before she could pull away, Asami kissed her again.

Asami’s left hand cupped Korra’s cheek, urging her to stay close. And, through one more kiss, she hoped Korra understood: ‘I have been waiting a long time for this.’

“Me too.”

“So, what do we do now?”

“Well… uh… do you want to watch a movie?”

Asami grinned, raising her brow. “Watch a movie, or Netflix and Chill?”

“One or the other. Or both. Depends. We don’t want to strain your ankle anymore, do we?”

The gleam in Korra’s eyes was so wicked that Asami couldn’t bring herself to back away. “Well, I usually wait till the second date anyway…” Panic and disappointment very clearly etched themselves into her frown. “But I guess I can make an exception for you. We can always do the first date later? Or call this the first date? Or....” - she held her breath.

Korra smirked. “Well, I daresay this would be the crappiest first date ever, seeing as how you were physically traumatized.”

“I’ll let you take a rain check.”

Korra nuzzled her neck, and Asami allowed herself to smile at the chills it sent down her spine. “I’ll grab the movie. Don’t move.”

“Don’t worry,” she sighed dramatically, “I couldn’t if I wanted to.”


End file.
